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N. E. NORS TROM. PROCESS OF VAPOHIZING LIQUIDS. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 15. IQIE.

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

W iIiiE wi u Unirrnn srars PATENT OFFICE.

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Specification of Letters Patent. v Patented Dec, 2, 1919 Application filed ram-my .5, 1916. Serial No. 72,195."

To all whom it mag concern:

Be it known that I, NiLs EMEL Nonsinoir, a citizen of the United States of-America, and a resident oi the city of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Processes for vaporizing Liquids, of which the following is a specification. \Iy invention relates to a process for vaporizing'kerosene, crude oil and other liquids which are not vo'latile at ordinary temperatures, and has for its object the production of a superior. process by which such volatilization is brought'about. q it is well known that if a gas be compressed it will increase in temperature. Thus, it air at 32 degrees, Fahiz, be compressed to one-half of its volume, its temperature will be raised to 193 degrees. If the compressed air be then permitted to ex pand, under ordinary conditions, to its original pressure, the temperature will fall to 32 degrees. Itis also known, however, that if compressed gas be permitted to expand under what is known as free expansion, the expansion will occur without a corresponding fall in temperature. The condition for free expansion is that in which the expanding gas performs no work.

In the process to be hereinafter described Itake advantage of this fact to produce an expansion which approximates free expansion by causing such expansionto occur under conditions in which it will perform less mechanical work than that consumed in compressing the gas. The term i'ree expansion as hereinafter used will mean, not the free expansion known in science, but that approximation to it which I use in carrying out my process.

Heat and work are convertible into each other, and the mechanical equivalent of heat is represented as approximately 779 footpounds equal 1 B. T. U. If I should take air at atmospheric pressure into a compressor and, in compressing it, use 1,558 foot-pounds of work, and then expand it to its original pressure under conditions in which it would perform only 7 79 footpounds of work, there would remain in it one unit of heat, and this extra unit of heat would cause the air to be at a higher temperature than when entering the compressor.

It is also known that each liquid has a boiling point of its own at atmosphericpressure, andthat the boiling point increases with the pressure. Thus, the boiling'point of water at atmospheric pressure is 212 degrees, while atone hundredpounds to the square inch above atmosphere, the boiling point is at 338 degrees. If waterat 337 de grees and under one hundred pounds pressure should have that pressure reduced to atmospheric pressure, the water would boil. In carrying out my process I use this principle in conjunction with the principle of frec'expansio'n previously mentioned.

The accompanying drawing, partly in section and partly in'elevation, shows an apparatus whichmay be used in carrying out my process. In said drawing, 1 is a cylinder in which is a piston 2 reciprocated by a crank 3 and connecting rod i. The crank is driven by powerapplied in any convenient manner to the shaft 5.

- In the cylinder wall are small holes 6 through which air and finely divided oil euter when the piston is at the upper end of its stroke. In the'bottom of the cylinder is a port closed by a valve 7 supported by. a stifii spring S. A nut9 serves as a means for adjusting tlie'tension of the spring.

hen the piston is in the position shown compresses the air within the cylinder.

When the pressure is sufficient to overcome the spring 8. the valve 7 opens suddenly and permits the 'air and oil to escape into the chamber 10, from which it is conveyed by the pipe 11. If the pipe 11 is connected to. the manifold of an engine there is a suction on the pipe which. leaves the pressure in the chamber 10 slightly below that of the atmosphere. Under these conditions the air in expanding will perform much less work than that consumed in compressing it,'with the result that the air is hot'when flowingv into pipe 11.-

The temperature in the cylinder will depend directly upon the pressure. There is a sion of the spring 8 is adjusted so that the valve 7 will open just before this temperature is reached, and this tension is determined independently by experiment for the pressure may be higher than'when only a small amount is injected. Thereasonfor this 1s that the 011 absorbs a conslderable amount of the heat of compression durlng the time compression takes place, and the more oil there is present the more the actual temperature will be reduced' The oil which enters the cylinder is finely divided, either by passing through the small holes 6 or by means of some special spraying device, and as the temperature of the air increases by the descent of the piston the little globules of oil in the air are heated to a high temperature. The smaller the glob ulesthe more perfectly they will be heated in the brief period of compression and the more perfectly the process will operate. By this means the actual temperature of the oil in the globules is raised above the boiling point or": the oil used, but actual vaporization is very SlOW or entirely held in abeyance by the great pressure in the surround ing air. The instant the valve 7 is opened, however, the pressure is reduced, and the oil vaporizes under the reduced pressure by reason of its internal heat.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that the critical things involved are the temperature obtained during compression, and the boiling point of the oil after expansion takes place. The more Widely these two temperatures are separated the more rapidly the oil may be vaporized, and the process is designed to separate them as Widely as possible. The process is carried out, first, by a free expansion of air previously heated by c-oi'npression and second, by the internal heat of the oil acquired during compression and operating after expansion to vaporize the oil under the reduced pressure. Air at high temperature and low pressure obtained by compression and subsequent free expansion facilitates the vaporization off the oil by the internal heat gained during compression. 7

What I claim is:

1. The process of vaporizing an "oil which consists in mixing air and finely divided oil, in compressing the mixture to obtain a high temperature in both air and oil, and in expanding and thereby vaporizing the oil under conditions which will reduce pressure Without correspondingly reducing temperature.

2. The process of vaporizing an oil which consists in mixing the liquid and air, in compressing the air to obtain a high temperature therein, and in suddenly expanding and th reby vaporizing the oil.

3. The process of vaporizing a liquid which consists in heating the liquid by contact with air at a high pressure and temperature, and then reducing the pressure of the air so that the liquid may be vaporized by its internal heat under the reduced pressure.

4. The process of vaporizing oil Which consists in subjecting a mixture of oil and air to a pressure which Will raise the temperature of the mixture to a point near to but slightly below the flash point of said mixture, and then in expanding the air to a pressure substantially equal to atmospheric pressure, the air and oil being in contact with each other during such expansion.

5. The process of vaporizing oil which consists in subjecting it to contact with air under compression and subsequent free ex pansion and thereby vaporizing the oil.

NILS EMEL NORSTROM. 

